• A A A
  • Russell Berman

    Buy viagra super active+ without prescription,  

    That the tide of American might is retreating from its outposts is unmistakable.  The US military presence in Western Europe, a legacy of the Second World War, melted away after the collapse of the Soviet empire. In the Middle East, Viagra super active+ online cheap, the hegemonic role of the US that emerged as a result of the decline of the old European colonial powers is also disappearing. The Obama regime chose to withdraw from Iraq, despite the sacrifice that American soldiers made to topple the Baathist dictatorship, viagra super active+ rx, through its refusal to negotiate an appropriate status agreement. Order viagra super active+ from us, Now it is running to the exits in Afghanistan before any modicum of stability has been achieved. In addition, Washington was conspicuous by its absence in ending the Gaddafi regime in Libya, viagra super active+ online, and it remained willfully ignorant of the post-Gaddafi dangers, Viagra super active+ internet, as seen in the tragic events in Benghazi.

    Clearly, the US is not seeking exposure in the broad swath of geography stretching from Morocco to Central Asia, buy viagra super active+ without prescription. While America was prepared to mobilize against the Soviet enemy in the Cold War, it has little appetite for the messy business of failed states, find viagra super active+ no prescription required, Islamist radicalism, Viagra super active+ free delivery, and terrorist campaigns. In addition, the declining dependence on Middle East oil simply reduces interest in the area altogether—surely a short-sighted calculation since so many of our allies, viagra super active+ uk, Europe and Japan, Cheap price viagra super active+, rely on the Saudi fields. Perhaps this retreat just reflects crude political motives: the Obama campaign wanted to point to the withdrawal in order to support its foreign policy narrative in the 2012 election. In that case, viagra super active+ buy, a future administration might reverse the decisions: yet this seems unlikely, Viagra super active+ bangkok, not only due to budget constraints, but because strategic leadership once surrendered cannot easily be regained. Buy viagra super active+ without prescription, Can Europe step into the breach. Much speaks against this unlikely prospect, purchase viagra super active+ overnight delivery. Europe has been investing at only very low levels in its military; it does not have the hardware to project power effectively.  Nor will its welfare state budgets allow it to do much better in the future. Buy no rx viagra super active+, In addition, Germany maintains a profoundly pacifist predisposition that makes any overseas deployments highly controversial and politically costly. Finally, generic viagra super active+ cheap, to make matters worse, Buy viagra super active+ generic, the EU requires unanimity among its 27 members in matters of foreign policy: hardly a structure designed for bold decision-making.

    Yet it would be a mistake to count Europe out.  The dynamic has shifted since the 1990s when the conflagrations in the Balkans, on Europe’s doorstep, required emphatic American leadership, buy viagra super active+ without prescription. In the meantime, many European countries have contributed to the ISAF forces in Afghanistan, viagra super active+ without prescription, and they would probably not be departing so rapidly had Washington signaled steadfastness in the enterprise. Viagra super active+ order, Moreover it was West European powers that took up the cause of Libya, an example of European action without American leadership. The same holds for France’s current involvement in Mali, low cost viagra super active+, part of a region where it maintains interests inherited from the colonial era but which is also a potential hinterland for terrorist threats in France itself.  The current debate over support for the Syrian rebels is a further example: England and France are far ahead of the US in calling for support for the anti-Assad forces, Viagra super active+ cheap, and they do so despite resistance from the rest of the EU.

    England and France, however, find viagra super active+, are insufficient as a replacement for American power. Buy viagra super active+ without prescription, A potential game-changer could be the inclusion of Turkey in the security calculus, perhaps through NATO (rather than EU) structures. Yet integrating Turkey as a European power raises plenty of cultural and economic issues—the least of which is Cyprus.

    Meanwhile much of Europe, especially Germany, remains susceptible to pressure from Russia. It is not just the legacy of the world wars that makes Germany risk-averse in military matters; it is also the sense of a need to avoid antagonizing Moscow. This is part of the explanation for Germany’s refusal to sign on to the Libya campaign. In the Cold War, the name for this was “finlandization,” one more consequence of the Obama administration’s great retreat, buy viagra super active+ without prescription.

    One last variable in the prospects for the American pivot to turn into the hour of the Europe:  the potential break-up of the Eurozone would introduce unforeseeable elements of instability. The political and economic structures of Europe are under extraordinary stress already, and matters can get worse. A reluctance to engage in the greater region could result, a European isolationism. In the end, it remains difficult to imagine Europe as a reliable force for security in the absence of a strong American voice.

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  • A A A
  • Editor

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     Oath of Horatii2

    Buy cialis jelly without prescription, In his epic offering to the glory of Rome, Virgil set the Romans different from the “others:”  Those others “could plead their cases better,” he wrote, “chart with their rods the stars, draw from the block of marble features thick with life.”  The Roman arts differed, the Roman had to put his “stamp on the works and ways of peace/to spare the defeated, break the proud in war.”

    The American president is not Augustus, our military is not the Roman Legions.  We can let Rome be as precedent, we can settle for more proximate history:  the burden and the power assumed by Pax Britannica, and the baton being passed, within the Anglo-Saxon family, as it were, to Pax Americana.  Nowadays, that “imperial” idea is in retreat, and the custodians of American power are reluctant to accept the burden that comes with maintaining and defending the international order.  Our colleague Charles Hill has written and brooded over this for years: he had been a public servant and a diplomat of a larger and more confident America.  If this is imperial sunset, Hill can chart as precious few others can the American trajectory in recent years.  The inspiration for this, our fifth Caravan expedition, comes from him.

    The Caravan’s writers will be rolled out in the next two weeks, online cialis jelly. Find cheap cialis jelly,  A new essay will be posted every two days.  We start with Charlie Hill and Russell Berman, cheapest cialis jelly price. Order cialis jelly no rx, -- Fouad Ajami

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  • A A A
  • Charles Hill

     

    “World order after Pax Americana Buy yagara (herbal viagra) without prescription, ?”  As Virgil would say, ‘Horresco referens:”  Telling it makes me shudder.

    A few years ago the wise political columnist Bill Safire occasionally would interview Richard Nixon in Hell (there for having imposed wage and price controls). Cheap yagara (herbal viagra) tablet, So let’s get the old master of strategy on the “hot line” and ask him about it.

    RMN: “Sorry about the crackling noises on the line; I can hear you perfectly well.”

    “Rome did not fall so much as it changed.  My current successor in the White House has announced his goal of fundamentally transforming America, and he is doing it brilliantly, buy yagara (herbal viagra) online, with the 'opposition' party falling in line. Buy cheap yagara (herbal viagra), “World orders do not last forever; most come to an end through a declining vision of wide horizons, increasing focus on the self, and a disinclination for the difficult.  The ‘meaning of life’ itself changes as revealed in that full-page ad in the New York Times (we read it like Pravda down here) depicting the chief ambition of today’s young Americans is ‘to retire earlier than your father did.’ So the country has retirement on the brain and this will continue whether the next presidency is won by Elizabeth Warren or Rand Paul, online yagara (herbal viagra).

    “As Pax Americana fades, each pillar of world order will weaken, causing its neighbor to slide as well; not a cascade, but a slow downward spiral of the entire international structure, buy yagara (herbal viagra) without prescription.

    “World order requires diplomacy and power to be used in tandem; but following the Europeans, Buy yagara (herbal viagra) in us, we want diplomacy to work on its own.  Our flawed approach has been exploited by one dictatorial regime after another to play games with our negotiators.  Iran’s nuclear weapons drive is a long-running example, and by now is unstoppable.  This will undermine the nonproliferation treaty, itself a pillar of world order, yagara (herbal viagra) malaysia.

    “The Arab Spring, Yagara (herbal viagra) no rx, begun with youthful hope for a freer, better life, has been commandeered by the old military, real yagara (herbal viagra) without prescription, Islamist, Order yagara (herbal viagra) no prescription, and political gangs.

    “Let me be perfectly clear: the media boys have it all wrong.  The US decision to overthrow Saddam Hussein, far from being the worst foreign policy decision in our history, get yagara (herbal viagra), will be seen in years ahead as one of the most courageously correct presidential acts ever.  Our war in Iraq produced two major consequences: first, Cheap yagara (herbal viagra) tablets, it ignited the flames of liberty in the hearts of young Middle Easterners, inducing the 2005 Cedar Revolution in Lebanon, the 2009 Green protests in Iran, buy discount yagara (herbal viagra) online, and the 2011 Arab Spring itself.   Second, Buy yagara (herbal viagra) us, surprising everyone, it lifted the lid of tyrannical suppression to reveal what has become in one place after another a maelstrom of innumerable contending parties, a war of all against all which will have to burn itself out before the original Arab Spring generation – or the next – rises once more, best price for yagara (herbal viagra).

    “Until that happens, Generic yagara (herbal viagra) online, which may take decades, the Middle East as a whole will become a ‘sphere of influence’ either under Iran or perhaps an Iran-Turkey-Saudi triumvirate.  In either case, the region will not be part of world order but dangerously adversarial to it, yagara (herbal viagra) no prescription. Buy yagara (herbal viagra) without prescription, “Another sphere of influence will take shape in Asia.  China’s long-held objective to control the region’s maritime waters will perforce compel the acquiescence of the other Asian states, as their naval assets together will not match those of the PRC.  The US will make sporadic ‘pivotal’ shows of force on behalf of its friends, but ultimately not persuasively.  Japan and the US will lapse into a sullen rhetorical stance, but accept Asia’s future as Beijing’s sphere.

    “Other spheres of influence will emerge.  Russia slowly will consolidate its post-Cold War goal to exercise suzerainty over the Eurasian lands lost by the collapsed Soviet Union; an informal partnership will be created between Beijing’s new empire and Moscow’s.  Russia will be alarmed, Buy cheap yagara (herbal viagra) internet, but soon bought off by Beijing as the PRC takes the paramount position of influence over Europe, which will shelter under China’s aegis in return for a ‘bailout’ of the entire EU.

    “Most of Africa will become an adjunct of the Middle East sphere, online pharmacy yagara (herbal viagra), as Islamist forces move from the Maghreb into Sub-Saharan territory.  Africa’s ‘southern cone’ will become South Africa’s sub-regional sphere. Yagara (herbal viagra) non prescription, “The US will respond to this massive global realignment by seeking to lead a Western Hemisphere sphere but will fail as a result of lingering Latin American resentment over past ‘Yanqui’ interventions.  South America, led by Brazil, will then proceed to play one sphere off another, cheap yagara (herbal viagra) in canada, angling for the highest bidder.

    “The US, by now awakened and alarmed, will belatedly try to rebuild its military power but find that ‘mothballed’ assets and skills have atrophied beyond repair.

    “The long-established international system having ended, a political theory for the New World Order will emerge.  Chinese intellectuals have been designing this since the opening of this century.  Based on Confucian principles, the international future will be hierarchical.   In place of the doctrine of ‘the equality of states,’ the larger and more powerful regimes, with China at the top, will provide direction to the lesser states.  Mercantilism will be restored, supplanting the open global economy.  Nationalism will regain its old potency to become the ideological equivalent of religion, buy yagara (herbal viagra) without prescription.

    “In each region there will arise flash points of confrontation in which the strongest will prevail – as in the South China Sea and the Persian Gulf – after minor displays of resistance.  The Freedom of the Seas will be only a memory.  The major crisis will come over Taiwan, for when absorbed by the PRC the entire Western Pacific will fall under Beijing’s control, Japan included.  The US will be summoned to ‘a moment of truth’ when this prospect is undeniable.  Some in what used to be known as 'The West' will demand action, but most will be undismayed, having grown accustomed to this Brave New World.

    "So the international state system of the modern age will be replaced by a world of separated and rivalrous spheres of influence.  But it won’t be that simple.  Sometime in the next generation, China will collapse because it cannot continue half panda—the capitalistic economy—and half dragon—the communist party.

    "Russia will not be able to manage its neo-Soviet empire as it devours itself in corruption and shrivels in demographic decline.  The Middle East will be cannibalized by Sunni-Shia hatreds.  And Latin America will be engulfed by racial-ethnic revolutions yet to come.  The US will continue obliviously to imitate a Europe already long gone to its grave.

    "By the middle of the 21st century the world will have returned to the Dark Ages.

    “Thanks for calling.  I look forward to seeing you soon down here.”.

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  • A A A
  • Carson Bruno

    Buy black cialis without prescription, California currently has about 50,000 producing oil and gas wells scattered throughout the state, of which about 750 (or 1.5%) use hydraulic fracturing – “fracking”, for short.   While fracking has been used in California for over 60 years, the state is just now getting around to proposing regulations and legislation to govern the controversial drilling practice.

    Recently, fracking has become the favorite punching bag for environmental activists and liberal prognosticators.  However, based on recent polling, the public is effectively split on whether it favors or opposes the practice.  Over the next few months the California State Legislature must struggle with two seemingly dispirit agendas:

    1) environmentalists, black cialis cheap price, who wish to end fracking in California because of over-blown environmental and health concerns;

    2) economic growth proponents, who see fracking as a way to unleash an economic renaissance the state desperately needs.

    In the “Spotlight” are eight pieces of introduced legislation that run the gamut of taxation, Cheapest black cialis prices, strict moratoriums, arcane regulation, and permitting and disclosure surrounding the fracking issue.


    • Permitting and disclosure: SB 4 (introduced and amended by Democratic Senator Fran Pavley), AB 7 (Democratic Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski), buy cheap black cialis online, AB 288 (Democratic Assemblyman Marc Levine),  AB 982 (Democratic Assemblyman Das Williams) would all allow the continued practice of fracking with a robust public disclosure and permitting process (with some variation).

    • Moratoriums: AB 649 (Democratic Assemblyman Adrin Nazarian), AB 1301 (Democratic Assemblyman Richard Bloom), Order black cialis in canada, and AB 1323 (Democratic Assemblywoman Holly Mitchell) would all institute an immediate moratorium on the procedure pending commissioned scientific studies.  While not an overt moratorium, the intent of Democratic Senator Hannah-Beth Jackson’s SB 395, which would broadly define “produced water” and classify it as a hazardous waste material, is to effectively ban the fracking process.

    • Taxation: Democratic Senator Noreen Evans’ SB 241 would impose a 9.9% oil severance tax on all oil extraction in California with the funds allocated to the UC, CSU, black cialis medication, and Community Colleges systems as well as the Department of Parks and Recreation.


    In addition to these pieces of legislation, California’s Department of Conservation/Division of Oil, Gas and Geothermal Resources has proposed a list of fracking regulations in 2012 that would institute “rules for storing and handling fracking fluids, Cheap black cialis pill, well monitoring after fracking, and preventing water contamination,” as well as require the disclosure of the chemicals used in the fluid. The proposed regulations mimic closely Colorado’s fracking regulations, which were championed by Democratic Governor John Hickenlooper, black cialis without prescription, the oil and natural gas industry, and environmentalists like Earthjustice.

    Currently, the operators of the 750 wells using fracking are not required to report anything about their operations.  However, environmentalists find the proposed DOGGR regulations completely inadequate for a practice that has been linked to groundwater contamination in Pennsylvania, increased levels of ozone in Wyoming, health risks in Colorado, and possibly to induced seismic activity, buy black cialis without prescription. Using these environmental and health degradation concerns, Black cialis overnight shipping, environmentalists have successfully lobbied for moratoriums in New York, New Jersey, Vermont, and North Carolina.  It is their hope to institute a clear and immediate moratorium on fracking in California despite any positive externality.

    However, price of black cialis, the environmental and health effects of fracking are not as clear cut as the environmentalists would have you believe.  Based on analysis by Susan Brantley of Pennsylvania State University and Anna Meyendorff of the University of Michigan, water quality in Pennsylvania was largely the same before and after the fracking of wells nearby. Hickenlooper has called attempts to vilify fracking as “all hyperbole and anxiety…and no science.” And a year-long independently-verified study of the Ingleside Oil Field near Los Angeles found no negative health, Black cialis for order, air quality, or seismic effects.

    While the environmental and health impact is hotly debate, the second issue – economic growth – is anything but debatable. Buy black cialis without prescription, At issue in California is the 15.4 billion barrels of shale oil reserves lying under the 1,752 sq. mile Monterey/Santos shale play.  Based on a geological study by the U.S, purchase black cialis online. Energy Information Administration, this region of California represents 64% of all shale oil reserves in the nation. To put this in perspective, Low cost black cialis, according to EIA data, California’s Monterey/Santos reserves alone could conceivably feed the American oil appetite for roughly 2.2 years.

    Unleashing this vast amount of natural resources could yield an economic growth similar to the dot-com boom. According to a recent USC study, opening the Monterey/Santos shale play could boost per capita GDP by over $10,000 (an increase of 14.3% over the projected 2020 baseline), buy black cialis without prescription. This economic boom would yield substantial employment growth – an additional 2.8 million jobs in California representing a 10% increase over the projected baseline. The additional employment coupled with increased GDP output would increase total personal income by about $220 billion – a 10% increase over the 2020 baseline.  And all of this economic growth means a boon to the state budget, buy black cialis generic. By 2020, the oil production would add an additional $24.6 billion to the state, local, Generic black cialis online, and county government coffers.

    Contextually, during the dot-com boom, California non-farm employment increased by 1.4 million (9.7%), per capita GDP and total personal income grew by almost $6, black cialis australia,700 (18.3%) and $248 billion (29%), respectively.  Even if only half of the additional $25 billion in government revenue went to Sacramento, it would equal around 125% of California’s 2011 collected corporate income tax receipts. Buy black cialis without prescription, So while environmentalists would like Californians to believe that fracking would lead to an environmental apocalypse, scientific evidence is mixed and divergent.  On the other hand, economic impact studies are uniformly positive.  In a state plagued by chronically high unemployment and critically low GDP growth, it would be fiscally irresponsible to so blithely ignore potential economic motivators. Black cialis no rx, However, California should not blindly embrace fracking.  Like Colorado and Pennsylvania, which both engaged in transparent and streamlined fracking oversight under Democratic gubernatorial administrations, California would be wise to replicate such a system to protect against possible environmental and health hazards while fostering economic growth. The DOGGR proposed regulations as well as certain introduced legislation, buy black cialis from canada, like the amended SB 4, build on the success of other states, such as Colorado. Black cialis us, A strict moratorium ignores the positive economic benefits and is unwarranted considering fracking’s limited use in the state and the fact that there have been no major incidents related to the procedure despite 60 years of unregulated activity. While public scientific studies should be conducted, using them as a method to stall further fracking development—like AB 649, AB 1301, AB 1323, buy cheapest black cialis online, and possibly, SB 4—irresponsibly prohibits regulated production that would produce significant economic gains.

    Californians should be wary of creating too many layers of fracking bureaucracy.  While AB 982’s permitting process is similar to DOGGR’s and SB 4’s, Buy no rx black cialis, it would add an additional layer of red tape by giving both the DOGGR and the Regional Water Quality Control Board responsibility for oversight.  DOGGR was created to oversee oil and natural gas exploration and production; therefore, additional layers of oversight would impose additional costs, unnecessarily slowing down the process and stymieing potential economic activity.  If DOGGR isn’t doing its job properly (and there is no evidence to suggest so), the appropriate method to fixing the regulatory process isn’t to add more layers, but rather to reform the division.

    At the same time, Sacramento shouldn’t and doesn’t need to impose further taxes and fees on the industry.  Tax windfalls will occur without the need of further taxation.  Instead of greedily hording the additional funds for pet projects, California should a) prudently pay down its debt and unfunded liabilities to put itself on sounder fiscal footing and/or b) use the additional revenue to lower the taxation burden on businesses within the state to foster broader economic growth.

    Despite his environmentalist background, Governor Jerry Brown has taken a much more pragmatic view of the oil industry in his current term and has expressed a moderate tone on the future of fracking in the Golden State.  Odds are: some sort of action will take place in 2013 on California fracking; the only real question is whether the process is hijacked by environmentalist fear-mongering or if the Legislature and Governor Brown take a measured approach accurately weighing both the procedures’ benefits and costs.

    Check-out the previous “Sacramento Spotlight”: AB 1203/SB 209 – Retroactive Capital Gains Tax Increase Repeal

    Follow Carson Bruno on Twitter: @CarsonJFBruno.

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  • Bill Whalen

    Buy Cialis Without Prescription

    Buy cialis without prescription,  

    Once upon a time, the nation’s capital was synonymous with a special form of incompetence having nothing to do with politics – a cellar-dwelling baseball existence best captured by sportswriter Charles Dryden: “Washington – first in war, first in peace, last in the American League”.

    That’s no longer the case. The current Washington franchise – that would be the Nationals, nee the Montreal Expos (Washington’s two previous franchises, cialis free sample, both named the Senators, fled D.C. Buy cialis internet, for the greener pastures of Minnesota and Texas) – resides in the National League. Moreover, the “Nats” are a consensus choice to make this fall’s World Series.

    That said, the Washington Nationals aren’t the only prohibitive favorite found inside the beltway, buy cialis without prescription. Residing about 20 minutes from the ballpark is Hillary Clinton, cialis no online prescription, the trendy choice these days to be the Democratic nominee in 2016 and America’s 45th president.

    At least, Cialis for sale, that’s what the polls tell us. One survey shows Mrs. Clinton dominating both Republicans and her fellow Democrats in hypothetical 2016 matchups. Another poll has Florida voters preferring her Buy cialis without prescription,  to native sons Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio.

    Add to those numbers: the chattering class’s clamoring for a Hillary run, compare cialis prices.

    Paul Begala, the Democratic consultant who helped engineer Bill Clinton’s win in 1992, Buy cialis pills,  “hopes and prays” for a Clinton candidacy. Kathleen Parker, a Washington Postcolumnist, believes it’s nothing less than Hillary’s duty to run: “The calculus comes down to this: She has been working toward this moment essentially all her life, buy cialis online, diligently clearing away the brush blocking her path. The zeitgeist is ready for a woman president. Most important, she can win – and few think the country would be worse for it.”

    About being a president-in-waiting this early in the selection process: it’s both a blessing and a curse for a Democratic frontrunner, buy cialis without prescription. Cost cialis, Al Gore led wire to wire in 2000. On the other hand, Mario Cuomo, Gary Hart, canadian pharmacy cialis, Ted Kennedy and Edmund Muskie are examples of early odds-on-favorites who didn’t work out (some decided not to run, others did and flamed out). Where to buy cialis, And there’s Mrs. Clinton’s experience in 2008 – starting out with a big advantage, only to be passed by Barack Obama. Buy cialis without prescription, Though it’s a long way to 2016, here are four reasons why Clinton inaugural planning may be premature:

    1)  Despite the Conventional Wisdom, She’s Unconventional. Republicans choose their presidential nominee in an orderly fashion: the prize goes to the previous runner-up, cialis no prescription. It’s true of Mitt Romney, John McCain, Cialis malaysia, Bob Dole, George H.W. Bush and Ronald Reagan. But not so, buy cialis cheap, for Democrats. Since 1972, six of the Democrats’ eight nominees had never sought national office before, buy cialis without prescription. Democrats like novelty; they venerate youth. Cialis no rx required, And here, as David Frum points out, Mrs. Clinton has a problem, find cialis. She’s 14 years older than Obama; neither party has gone with a nominee that much older than his or her predecessor. Turning 69 in 2016, she’ll be 24 years older than was her husband at the time of his acceptance speech in the summer of 1992 – seeking a Democratic nomination won only once, Cialis generic, since 1972, by a candidate in his or her 60’s (John Kerry, age 60 in 2004). Buy cialis without prescription, Presumably tanned, rested and ready by 2016, would Hillary be .  . , cheap cialis from uk. too old.

    2)  Lean Left, Cialis cheap, Lean Right, Lean In? Presidential candidates succeed by finding their niche. Barack Obama neatly stepped into the disgruntled progressive void; Bill Clinton cloaked himself in centrism. The Hillary campaign of 2008 struggled as to where and how to position its candidate – as Democratic strategist Bob Shrum noted, making the fatal mistake of coming across, in a change election, as an establishment candidate “whose sell-by-date has passed”, buy cialis without prescription. How does Hillary avoid that, cialis canada. Perhaps she embraces “lean in” – the concept of women woefully underrepresented in leadership positions – and runs as the political answer to Facebook’s Sheryl Sandberg. But that invites a very complicated discussion about Hillary Clinton as a role model. Cialis pharmacy, And that leads us to . . .

    3) Buy One, Get One Free – Again? In 2016, as in 2008, the elephant in the room would be Bill Clinton. Does he overshadow his wife’s candidacy, as he did at times in the previous run (you might recall the former president whining about being the victim of racial politics). Does his income from speaking gigs (here’s an example of how her husband’s finances came into play in 2008) remind voters of the Clintons’ pliant ethics. And there’s the complicated arrangement that is the Clintons’ marriage (which scholars are still trying to decipher), buy cialis without prescription.

    4) Her Story Meets History. Let’s assume Hillary breezes past a weak Democratic field. As the party’s first woman nominee, she would be looking to achieve another historical first: a non-incumbent Democrat succeeding a Democratic administration. It didn’t work in 2000 and 1920, at the end of two-term Democratic presidencies. It didn’t work in 1968 or 1952 – the end of hybrid Democratic administrations. Buy cialis without prescription, With the exception of the first Bush administration, the nation has swapped out partisan control of the White House every eight years, going back to 1980. Could Hillary reverse that pattern. That’s a tall order in what could turn in yet another change election.

    Bottom line: baseball pennants aren’t won in April; presidential elections aren’t decided three years ahead of their actual vote.

     

    Follow Bill Whalen on Twitter: @hooverwhalen.

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  • Carson Bruno

    Buy cialis professional without prescription, Following the passage of Proposition 30, California has the highest capital gains tax rate in the nation (13.3% for California; 33% state and federal combined) – second only to Denmark in the industrial world, for the matter.

    The funny thing is this wasn’t supposed to be the case for all Californians. Recognizing the detrimental effects taxing capital gains at high rates has on investment, Cialis professional discount, innovation, and risk-taking – largely because of the high elasticity of capital gains taxation – California in 1993 created a state qualified small business stock credit (QSBS) which allowed business owners with 80% of their employees and assets in California to exclude from state taxes 50% of their capital gains on stock, as long as the company was not worth in excess of $50 million.  This tax rule incentivized Silicon Valley venture capitalists to invest in risky tech start-ups as well as gave business owners a reason to maintain a vast majority of their operations in California.

    Fast-forward now to August 2012 and the California Court of Appeals, drug cialis professional, in Cutler v. Franchise Tax Board, Cheap cialis professional tablets, deeming the 80% requirement unconstitutional.  The FTB then declared the entire QSBS invalid and announced it would retroactively collect the remaining 50% for the years not covered by the statute of limitations (2008 and onward).  In December, the FTB notified about 2,000 such business owners that they owe the state back taxes totaling roughly $120 million, subject to increase due to interest accumulation, low price cialis professional.  This decision by the FTB runs dangerously close to a bill of attainder and in every essence is ex post facto law, buy cialis professional without prescription.

    Today’s “Spotlight” looks at two pieces of legislation – AB 1203 (Republican Assemblyman Jeff Gorell) and SB 209 (Democratic Senator Ted Lieu) – which ensure that individuals who adhered to the law as it stood are not punished for their law-abiding actions because of the whims of an un-elected bureaucratic tax board.

    AB 1203 prohibits the FTB from collecting interest or penalties on tax bills if they are related to back taxes resulting from a court decision. Discount cialis professional no rx, SB 209 will be amended to block retroactive tax bills.  The FTB claims it doesn’t have the administrative ability to fix the problem.  As Sen. Lieu states, “Our goal is to fix this problem. Buy cialis professional without prescription, Since it can’t be done administratively, we’ll fix it legislatively.”

    To better appreciate this rare act of Sacramento bi-partisanship, let’s take a step back and examine the broader context of both California’s tax environment as well as its business climate. First, cialis professional online sale, at issue is the ex post facto nature of the FTB’s actions and its connection with the state’s poor standing with the business community. Second, Find discount cialis professional, California’s tax revenue stream is extremely exposed to capital gains, which makes California’s budget heavily reliant on such income.

    Starting a business or investing in a business as an “angel investor” is not something to take lightly.  An individual is putting substantial amounts of money into a venture that may or may not actually pan out.  In California—most particularly in the Silicon Valley/Bay Area—business start-ups tend to be venture-backed firms.  However, based on research out of Harvard Business School, order cialis professional from us, only a quarter of such firms actually survive. Owning a business is not for the faint-hearted and prior to jumping into such an endeavor, Order cialis professional, entrepreneurs examine the comprehensive business environment, especially the tax code.  Certainty and trust in the rule-of-law are above all the most important factors for entrepreneurs.  Indiscriminate rule fluctuations or retroactive alterations only act as deterrents to would-be entrepreneurs.

    The FTB’s decision is a prime example of ex post facto rule-making, regardless of the agency’s claims that it had no choice in the matter.  Business owners and venture capitalists who dared to either invest in California start-ups or build their business operations in the Golden State, now find themselves being punished, buy cialis professional without prescription. . , cialis professional uk. simply for following the law.

    In particular, Lowest price cialis professional, this retroactive tax increase impacts Silicon Valley/Bay Area’s venture investors and business owners as well as early-stage employees who invested in the start-ups for which they worked.  And venture capital is very important to California, which receives almost ½ of all venture capital in the U.S.  This money flows predominately into the Silicon Valley/Bay Area, driving one of California’s most important economic engines.  According to Bureau of Labor Statistics data, the Silicon Valley/Bay Area alone accounted for 42% of all non-farm employment gains in California in 2011-2012, cheap cialis professional no rx. Buy cialis professional without prescription, Yet, a decrease in faith of California’s rule of law is only one of the problems the FTB’s decision creates and AB 1203 and SB 209 attempt to remedy; California’s budget currently finds itself a hostage of income tax revenue, which makes any hostility toward income generation a major problem for future budgetary health (if any exists at all).

    As the chart below shows (using Census Bureau data), income taxes in California have become the dominant revenue for the state’s budget.  Between 1963 and 2011, Purchase cialis professional no rx, income tax revenue as a share of total tax revenue ballooned from about 13% to over 40%, while both sale tax revenue and corporate tax revenue remained fairly constant.

    CA Taxes as Share of Total Taxes


    This is notable and problematic because California’s excessively progressive income tax is extremely volatile.  With the top, non-“millionaire” tax bracket starting around $48, buy cialis professional from india,000 AGI (for single filers), even the middle-class in California pays a top tax rate on its income.  Because of this, Cialis professional prescription, however, the share of tax revenue is significantly skewed to the left.  For instance, in 2010, the top 10% of earners in California paid approximately 75% of all income taxes with the top 1% paying just over 40%, cialis professional from canada.

    Unfortunately, though, Cialis professional online without prescription, for California, the wealthiest individuals also feature the most volatile swings in income.  Capital gains income drives this fluctuating-income phenomenon.     The next two charts are from the Commission on the 21st Century Economy Final Report, commissioned by former Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger to provide recommendations on tax reform.  As it shows, cialis professional online review, the upsurge (followed by the drop) in both the top 1%’s share of taxes paid and their share of AGI corresponds with the increase (and subsequent decrease) in the share of capital gains for personal income.  These lines track the California economy perfectly as well. Between 1993 and 2000, California real GDP (in 2006 dollars) increased by 34 percent, but between 2000 and 2002, real GDP only grew by 0.6 percent, buy cialis professional without prescription.

    Capital Gains


    Shares of AGI


    All of this leads to an extremely volatile income stream for California, Purchase cialis professional without prescription, especially compared to the other 49 states.  Using Census Bureau data, the chart below tracks the three year moving average percent change in the income tax revenue as a share of the state’s personal income.


    CA Income


    In the 1960’s and 1970’s the divergence shown wouldn’t have really mattered since income tax revenue was not the dominant source of income. However, since the 1980’s, sale cialis professional, this volatility makes budget planning very difficult.  As the California Legislative Analyst Office showed in its 2005 revenue volatility study, California’s income tax volatility could alter income tax revenues by up to $6 billion—the annual amount Prop 30 is supposed to generate.

    As such, California is overly reliant on income tax revenue, which is overly reliant on wealthy taxpayers, who have volatile incomes largely due to their reliance on capital gains income.  All of this means California’s budgetary process is overly reliant on capital gains.

    The rise in uncertainty surrounding the treatment of capital gains will inhibit investors and business owners’ willingness to invest in California which could have dire consequences on the state’s tax revenue flow further harming California’s already fragile budget. AB 1203 and SB 209 ensure this kind of uncertainty won’t transpire again.

    Check-out the previous "Sacramento Spotlight": AB 10 - Minimum Wage Increase

    Follow Carson Bruno on Twitter: @CarsonJFBruno.

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  • A A A
  • Bill Whalen

    Buy cialis soft tabs without prescription, Thanks to the NCAA basketball tournament, “March Madness” is now a household phrase.


    It’s also applies to a crowded field of 2016 Republican presidential hopefuls. With two differences:

    (1) 68 teams compete in the NCAA tourney; the Republican field right now may be larger;

    (2) The basketball competition is over in less than a month, whereas the GOP’s winnowing process is a more prolonged mess.

    Still, that doesn’t stop us from having a little fun with the idea of a 2016 primary competition, Cheap cialis soft tabs in canada, hoops bracket-style.

    Here’s my list of 16 competitors, divided into two categories of contenders: eight possible candidates who make their living primarily inside the beltway; eight possible candidates from beyond the beltway.

    (Author’s note: unlike the NCAA, I didn’t “seed” the field, ranking candidates from strongest to weakest, where to order cialis soft tabs. In this competition, the first round is all about similar/contrasting styles and good story lines.)

    Your 2016 tournament (click to enlarge):

    aafs -- 2016tournament-1



    The Sweet Sixteen


    Paul Ryan vs, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. Marco Rubio. We start with two heavyweights – and for a reason: if Ryan seeks the presidency, he presumably has first dibs on Mitt Romney’s campaign network. If Ryan doesn’t run, Buy cialis soft tabs, then the fundraising, policy and field operations are there for Rubio’s (and others’) taking. At the moment, Ryan’s focused on budget reform, not 2016 politicking. Buy cialis soft tabs without prescription, He sounds like a man more interested in staying in the House. Rubio’s talking immigration reform (among other issues) – in the process, cialis soft tabs online, coming across as more and more presidential.


    Because of that, Rubio wins this matchup.


    Rick Santorum vs. Newt Gingrich. Both left Congress; neither left the Washington fishbowl. Buy cialis soft tabs lowest price, If they run, they run the risk of overlapping as they did in 2012. To the extent Gingrich is campaigning these days, it’s on behalf of California Lt, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. Gov. Gavin Newsom’s goofy Citizenville book (as when Newt bonded with Nancy Pelosi over global warming, cue The Odd Couple theme). I can see Santorum camping out in Iowa again (and at least one top donor wants him to).  Is Gingrich anywhere as determined, cialis soft tabs professional. Santorum wins this matchup.


    Michele Bachmann vs. Rand Paul Buy cialis soft tabs without prescription, . The two libertarians see eye to eye on foreign aid and Washington dealmaking. Where they differ: career trajectory. Bachmann ran for president in 2012 and didn’t last past the first week in January. Canadian cialis soft tabs, Paul could easily step in, come 2016, where his father left off in 2012 (the son’s already been branded “the rabbit” in the GOP field). Paul wins this matchup.


    John Thune vs, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. Kelly Ayotte. Since it’s not really a tourney without a Cinderella story, here are two longshots, cheap cialis soft tabs no prescription. Thune has two pluses: all-American good looks; easy access to Iowa from his home base of South Dakota. As for Ayotte, John McCain and Lindsey Graham’s “third amigo”, she’s the junior senator from New Hampshire. Buy cialis soft tabs without prescription, Need we say more. Cialis soft tabs cost, Because Hillary Clinton and gender politics loom on the horizon, the opportunities will continue to arise for Ayotte to step up for the party, as she’s been doing since the last election.  Ayotte wins this matchup.


    Ben Carson vs. Sarah Palin. No one ever mistook Palin for a brain surgeon. Until his feisty appearances at the National Prayer Breakfast and CPAC, order cialis soft tabs cheap online, no one would have mistaken Carson, a neurosurgeon, for Palin. But that’s what he is at the moment: like the self-proclaimed “hockey mom” in 2008, the GOP’s newest plain-talkin’ star, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. Again, Order cialis soft tabs on internet, trajectories: Carson is leaving his medical post at Johns Hopkins, thus freeing him up for political dabbling; Palin’s doing prop comedy and pondering her next move. Winner: Carson.


    Bobby Jindal vs. Scott Walker. Two governors who, if they run, buy cialis soft tabs in us, are certain to offer their states as the Republican ideal. Buy cialis soft tabs without prescription, For Walker, it’s doing battle with public-sector unions. Jindal: eliminating his state’s income tax. This is a pick-‘em choice – one where Jindal has a slight advantage: he’s the chairman of the Republicans Governors Association, which gives him free rein to tour the country next year; Walkers’ the RGA vice chair. Order cialis soft tabs overnight delivery, Winner: Jindal.


    Jeb Bush vs. Bob McDonnell.  Two former governors, each with some serious work ahead with regard to skeptical party activists. For Bush, it’s the family name, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. For McDonnell, its raising taxes while governor of Virginia (though he did restore Scooter Libby’s civil rights). Winner: Bush.


    Chris Christie vs, tablet cialis soft tabs. Mike Pence. Why this matchup. Buy cialis soft tabs without prescription, Because Pence, the newly elected governor of Indiana (“I’m a Christian, a conservative, a Republican in that order”) would be the anti-Christie in the race, taking social issues straight to Iowa (in 2011, he was the surprise winner of the Values Voter Summit straw poll). Christie is up for re-election this fall. That gives him the better part of two years to figure where and how to make his debut in the elimination derby, Cialis soft tabs india, while at the same time amassing an enormous war chest that will come in handy if the selection process is more compressed and more nationalized. Winner: Christie.


    The Elite Eight:


    Rubio vs. Santorum. Electability is the dominant issue, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. Rubio’s seen as the party’s “new face”; Santorum had to deal with this question – is he too polarizing to win a national contest. – time . , order cialis soft tabs from canada. . and . . . again in 2012. Winner: Rubio.


    Paul vs. Ayotte. Purchase cialis soft tabs overnight delivery, His father’s presidential run didn’t live up to expectations, leaving Paulistas to spin that it was all about the movement, not the campaign. His recent filibuster suggests the son might have a political sophistication the father didn’t, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. Winner: Paul.


    Carson vs. Jindal. Name the last candidate with a record of cutting eliminating taxes, cheap cialis soft tabs from usa. Name the last presidential nominee of either major party never to have held an elected office. Buy cialis soft tabs without prescription, While you’re thinking, we’ll move on. Winner: Jindal.


    Bush vs. Christie. How many of the old guard (the five previous Bush presidential runs, Find cialis soft tabs no prescription required, 1980-2004) will jump on board the Christie bandwagon. Winner Christie.


    The Final Four:


    Rubio vs. Paul, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. The last guy to support Paul might his Blue Grass colleague, Senator Minority Leader Mitch McConnell. The two are “frenemies”, at best, buy generic cialis soft tabs. Rubio will try to keep one foot in each camp: GOP establishment and disaffected outsiders. They teach surfing in Florida, right. Winner: Rubio.


    Buy cialis soft tabs without prescription, Jindal vs. Christie. Conservative orthodoxy born on the Bayou takes on the Jersey style of center and right, though it’s not always a friendly greeting from Asbury Park (check out these comments on teachers’ unions). Winner: Christie.


    Finalists:


    Rubio vs. Christie. We’d love to tell you the winner of this one, but where’s the fun in that, buy cialis soft tabs without prescription. You’ll have to stay tuned until 2016.


    One final note: NCAA brackets are about the known – the teams are already chosen; the matchups already set. That’s no so with presidential elections. We’ll have to wait to see how the field takes shape and where the path leads the candidates.


    Early favorites. The University of Kentucky was ranked third in pre-season polls; the Wildcats didn’t make the tournament. Rudy Giuliani, Howard Dean, Gary Hart, Hillary Clinton. All frontrunners that didn’t last.


    Anyone up for a little bracket-busting in 2016?


    Follow Whalen on Twitter: @HooverWhalen

    .

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  • A A A
  • Bill Whalen

    Buy cialis super active+ without prescription, In case you missed this weekend’s Conservative Political Action Conference, it was a good couple of days for Sens. Rand Paul and Marco Rubio, both of whom seem to be angling for higher office. Cialis super active+ rx, They finished first and second, respectively, in CPAC’s 2016 presidential straw poll.

    It wasn’t such a good time for former Florida Gov, cialis super active+ alternative. Jeb Bush, whose speech about “inclusion and acceptance” earned a tepid response. Bush opted out of the presidential straw poll (not that it’s much of an indicator – only two of its winners (Ronald Reagan and Jeb Bush’s father) have gone on the claim the presidency, buy cialis super active+ without prescription. Cheap cialis super active+ internet, And it was a terrible weekend for the Republican consultancy class, which got blamed for pretty much everything from the party’s failing at the polls to the USA’s early departure from the World Baseball Classic.

    At least, that’s how Patrick Caddell – the longtime Democratic consultant and a man who sounds like he’s read Shakespeare’s Henry VI, cialis super active+ cheapest price, Part 2 one too many times – sees it.

    About those consultants: they’re easy prey any time a candidate or a party loses – even more so in the aftermath of the Romney meltdown, Cialis super active+ internet, as the political world began to learn of who all on the inside profited despite the candidate’s reversal of fortune.

    But let’s not overdo it. Buy cialis super active+ without prescription, In the real life, political consultants aren’t as physically striking or strikingly Machiavellian as, say, Ryan Gosling (Ides of March), or as sinister as Richard Gere’s soulless media guru in Power (if you haven’t seen it, don’t bother – it’s a terrible waste of Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington). Nor, for the most part, cheapest generic cialis super active+ online, are politically consultants as outlandishly quirky as Billy Bob Thornton was in Primary Colors. With the exception of James Carville (in fact, Cialis super active+ overnight delivery, Thornton was doing a Carville imitation in that film, which itself was a thinly-veiled imitation of the 1992 Clinton presidential campaign).

    What political consultants are (and I say this as someone who’s been in this line of work): part of a professional in need of reform. What are stopping candidates from changing their fees from monthly retainers to something more incentive-based, generic cialis super active+ cheap, or deducting pay and withholding bonuses for underperformance.

    That said, the consulting class isn’t the lone reason why Mitt Romney doesn’t sit in the Oval Office and Republicans have fewer seats in Congress today they did a year ago (to give you an example of the tension between conservatives and the Romney consultancy, here here’s advice from the right after the 47% flap, versus Romney campaign chief Stuart Stevens’ post-election defense of the campaign and his client), buy cialis super active+ without prescription.

    So if consultants aren’t solely to blame for the Republicans’ poor showing in 2012, Buy cialis super active+ without prescription, who or what else deserves mention. I’ll give you three choices:

    1)  Primary Malfunction. If the agreed-upon aim was to defeat the Democratic incumbent, why did the establishment GOP – not the consultants, order cialis super active+ online, but the people actually running the party – make it so difficult for the Republican frontrunner to separate from the rest of the field. And that’s exactly what the Republican National Committee did in 2012. Buy cialis super active+ without prescription, First, the party sanctioned 20 presidential debates, meaning Romney had to share the stage – i.e., come under televised attack – from at least three rivals on a given night, sometimes as many as eight. Cialis super active+ purchase, So much for a stature gap. Second, the party lengthened its primary and changed delegate-allotment to proportional rather than winner-take-all. Financially and strategically, discount cialis super active+ online, it put Romney behind the eight ball: he had to wait longer to “go over the top” delegate-wise; he had to live by limited spending in primary state. Meanwhile, Cialis super active+ buy drug, the challenger-free Obama campaign could spend as much as it liked, wherever it liked. Which it did in Ohio and Florida early in the year, which came back to haunt Romney in the fall, buy cialis super active+ without prescription.

    2)  The Republican Tech Wreck. Since the 2010 midterm results, buy cialis super active+ once daily, the assumption was Republicans had pulled even, if not ahead of Democrats in terms of tech savvy. Find cialis super active+ without prescription, But in 2012, the Obama campaign was better at data-mining for voters. That gave the Democrats a leg up on micro-targeting voter-turnout, a strong point for the winning Republican effort in 2004, buy cheapest cialis super active+. And it meant the difference in an election that was closer than it appears Buy cialis super active+ without prescription,  on the electoral scoreboard: going back to 1900, only three presidential elections had a narrower margin of popular vote than Obama-Romney (shift 195,000 votes in Florida, Ohio and Virginia and it’s a different a national outcome).  In campaign post mortems, the Romney campaign was dismissed as a step behind the opposition in terms of innovation, while Team Obama bet early and heavily on a high-tech infrastructure. And there’s the woeful tale of Romney’s “Project ORCA” – aka, Romney’s “whale fail”. Buy cheapest cialis super active+ on line, 3)  Horsing Around. “Show me your horse”, goes the old proverb, “and I’ll tell you who you are.”  This wasn’t so simple for Republicans when their lead stallions were Mitt Romney and John McCain – both gentlemen running in their second presidential campaigns as evolved candidates, buy cialis super active+ on line, having traded in moderate past for conservative presents. Like McCain in 2008, Cheap cialis super active+, Romney in 2012 represented neither an emerging political movement nor a course correction for his party – the common threads in the last four defeats suffered by incumbent presidents. As the conservative writer Jonathan Last has pointed out, the most persuasive arguments for a Romney victory (“most electable”, “fundraising savvy”, “good campaign organization”) had more to do with the process than the man himself, buy cialis super active+ without prescription. Give those same consultants a conservative born of a genuine movement (Ronald Reagan) or a tweaked philosophy (George W. Bush and “compassionate conservative”).

    There’s one other way to assess the culpability of the Republicans’ consulting class: wait until 2016 and see if a different group of candidates produces a different outcome.  And then we can end the debate over what was the problem in 2012: the man, cheap cialis super active+ tablet, the machine, the men behind the curtains, or all of the above.

     

    Follow Bill Whalen on Twitter: @hooverwhalen.

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  • A A A
  • Carson Bruno

     

    This marks the first in a regular series examining legislation introduced by California lawmakers. Buy female cialis without prescription,  

    At first glance, minimum wage laws are popular concepts.  A recent Reason-Rupe poll found that 66% of Americans favor President Obama’s proposed 24% increase in the federal minimum wage to $9.00 per hour.  This matches the sentiment found in a recent NBC/Wall Street Journal poll (58% in favor) and a Pew Research Center/USA Today poll (70% in favor).  However, if educated about the effects of such policies, the public’s opinions shift; based on the Reason-Rupe poll (which asked a follow-up question stating one negative unintended consequence of minimum wage laws: employer layoffs), approval of a wage increase dropped to 37%.

    In the “Spotlight” is AB 10, authored by Democratic Assemblyman Luis Alejo, which aims to increase California’s $8.00 per hour minimum wage.  The bill has four stages:

    1) Increase the minimum wage 3% on January 1, 2014 to $8.25;

    2) Increase it by 6% on January 1, order female cialis no prescription required, 2015 to $8.75;

    3) Increase it again by 6% to $9.25 on January 1, 2016, and;

    4) Starting on January 1, Canada female cialis, 2017 (and every January 1st thereafter), increase the minimum wage by the previous year’s California Consumer Price Index.

    AB 10 would allow the California Industrial Welfare Commission to adjust the annual increase more than the California CPI, but would preclude it from decreasing (or increasing) the minimum wage in deflationary years.

    Minimum wage laws all have the same intended goal: to reduce poverty, female cialis from india. Proponents theorize that minimum wage increases will also boost employee morale thereby increasing business efficiency.  However, despite their initial popularity, such policies continue to fall short.

    It isn’t surprising why on the surface such laws are popular, buy female cialis without prescription. Find female cialis online, Last fall’s Measure D campaign in San Jose, which raised that city’s minimum wage 25% to $10.00 per hour, used emotional anecdotes to spur support and cast opponents as heartless individuals.  However, while pathos arguments are useful for campaigning, they provide little use in policy analysis.  Instead a logos argument examines the merits of a policy alternative and determines whether it is the best option available, compare female cialis prices online.

    In order for minimum wage laws to reduce poverty, they must affect those in poverty.  As workers’ data complied by the federal Bureau of Labor Statistics show, the predominant individuals represented in minimum wage jobs are teenagers and more broadly, Order cheap female cialis online, those under the age of 25.  While workers under the age of 25 only make up one-fifth of the hourly-rate national workforce, they account for over half of the minimum wage workers.  Teenagers make up over 21% of the minimum wage workers while hourly rate workers over the age of 25 make up just 3% of minimum wage workers.

    There is, also, no major variation in minimum wage workers between the races.  Only 5% of hourly rate African-American, cheap female cialis overnight delivery, Hispanic, or white workers are employed at or below the minimum wage (3% for Asian).   Minimum wage workers are, Female cialis in malaysia, on average, teenagers (typically working their first job) and on average, are not below the poverty line.  As such, minimum wage workers are usually in a temporary economic position. Buy female cialis without prescription, California, additionally, actually ranks among the bottom of the 50 states in terms of the share of its hourly rate workforce employed at or below the minimum wage (just 1.4% of its 8.8 million hourly rate workers).  Despite this, California has the 7th highest statutory minimum wage (tied with Massachusetts), outpacing border-state Arizona and competitors like Texas, Florida, and North Carolina.  California’s $8.00 per hour rate also outpaces other progressive states like New York, New Jersey, and Minnesota.

    AB 10 falls short in at least two regards:

    (1) It would affect less than 2% of the state’s hourly rate working population;

    2) As that population, purchase female cialis, on average, isn’t poor, AB 10 wouldn’t live up to its sales pitch of reducing poverty. Buying female cialis online, However, minimum wage laws do affect the labor market.  Basic economic theory illustrates that demand curves are downward sloping and supply curves are upward.  This economic relationship means that price floors (which minimum wage laws are) increase labor supply while decreasing demand for labor creating a surplus of labor.

    While the basic theory is straightforward, there is debate surrounding the employment effects of minimum wage laws.  Princeton economists David Card and Alan Kreuger suggest that there is no “disemployment” effect, while others such as co-authors David Neumark and William Wascher have shown such effects.  In a more recent study (Jonathan Meer and Jeremy West), female cialis vendors, “disemployment” effects are shown to occur, but through reduced new hiring as opposed to layoffs.  However, because minimum wage workers are disproportionally younger workers, Female cialis without a prescription, a majority of minimum wage studies show the “disemployment” effects are focused among the younger generation. Such studies have shown that a 10% increase in minimum wage rates reduces teenage employment by between 1% and 3%. This probably wouldn’t affect the overall state economy, since it’s such a small component of the greater workforce, but it still is a negative unintended consequence of minimum wage laws, buy female cialis without prescription.

    Minimum wage laws supposedly boost employee morale and as such, business effectiveness. However, female cialis in bangkok, AB 10’s increases would mean California would have among the highest minimum wage rates in the country.  According to CEO Magazine, California currently holds the title of “worst state for business in America” – a dubious honor the Golden State has held for eight consecutive years.  In addition, a recent California Chamber of Commerce climate survey shows that a whopping 73% of Golden State-multistate business owners consider California a more difficult business terrain than other states.  These business owners view the high cost of doing business in California – regulations, Cheap female cialis online, state and local taxes, healthcare costs, labor and housing costs – as the main drivers for California’s poor business climate.  AB 10 would increase one of these costs by 16% in just three years and then increase it again, annually, by an unknown amount, cheapest female cialis. Not only would AB 10 drive up labor costs, it would also instill uncertainty into one of business’s major cost drivers.

    Lastly, Female cialis sale, AB 10 would institute automatic rate increases.  Currently, 10 other states have automatic increases of some sort (typically pegging the rate to an inflation or cost of living formula) – four of which have higher current minimum wage rates than California.  However, the automatic adjustments eliminate one of business’s key cyclical adjustment mechanisms. Buy female cialis without prescription, Inflation allows businesses, particularly in economic hard times, to reduce its labor costs without actually having to cut pay or its workforce.  Yet, when law mandates pegging the minimum wage to inflation, free female cialis, businesses have one fewer adjustment mechanism available, and thus, they have to absorb losses through profit reductions or reduced hiring and/or layoffs. Cheap generic female cialis, However, minimum wage laws are not the only policy alternative available for poverty reduction and standard of living enhancement. For a long-term solution, advancing quality educational opportunity and achievement would work to reduce poverty as well as introduce many other positive externalities into California’s economy.

    However, order female cialis in us, education reforms take years to filter into the greater society. For more immediate effects, the creation of a state earned income tax credit (EITC) would help those in poverty and not introduce market distortions.  An EITC is a refundable tax credit for tax filers below a certain income level, buy female cialis without prescription. In effect, it is a negative income tax allowing those in need of assistance to receive additional income. Order discount female cialis, Oregon and Washington join 21 other states that have their own EITC (in addition to the federal EITC). However, California’s other bordering states, Nevada and Arizona, don’t have such a tax credit. Neither do two of California’s top economic competitors, Texas and Florida. Buy female cialis without prescription, Despite its apparent disadvantages, AB 10 likely will work its way through both liberal-dominated chambers of the state Legislature.  The question is: does Gov. Jerry Brown sign it into law or seek amendments. On one hand, Brown will feel pressure from Sacramento progressives to ensure that California isn’t eclipsed on this issue as other liberal states (New York, Minnesota, Maryland, and Hawaii) consider rate increases. On the other hand, Brown is up for re-election in 2014 and will have to defend that 50th-best business climate in the country.

    A wise move for Brown would be to substitute a California EITC in place of AB 10. He prides himself as a pragmatist. And, stripped of its emotional baggage, minimum wage increases don’t add up to practical policy choices.

    Follow Carson Bruno on Twitter: @CarsonJFBruno.

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